(SitNews) - This morning at 5:16
am, Alaska State Troopers responded to 57-year old John Michael
Saunders' residence on Mud Bay Road in Haines responding to a
report that Saunders was found deceased. Emergency Medical Services
(EMS) was on scene and had pronounced Saunders deceased.

Saunders had been medi-vacced
to Juneau on Saturday. According to officials at Bartlett Regional
Hospital in Juneau, the patient, 57-year old John Michael Saunders
from Haines, reportedly developed symptoms consistent with PSP
after eating Dungeness crab in Haines on Friday. It is believed
that the PSP came from the viscera (guts). PSP is not normally
found in the crab meat. Symptoms included tingling in his lips,
numbing in his body, weakness and poor coordination. Saunders
was medevaced to Juneau on Saturday and released from the hospital
Monday morning.

The crab was reportedly caught
in front of Jenkins Rock near the Chilkat Inlet of Lynn Canal.
No one else who ate crab caught at the same time reported any
symptoms.

DEC and DHSS officials warn
the public not to consume the viscera from recreational and subsistence
harvested crabs. Crab meat is not considered to be a source of
PSP. Additionally, DEC plans to begin testing crab from the implicated
southeastern area.

This is the fifth case of paralytic
shellfish poisoning reported to the state in the past two weeks.
Shellfish consumers should be aware that PSP can occur in any
shellfish at any time of the year, and should be aware of the
classic PSP symptoms, including numbness or tingling of the face,
arms, and legs; headache; dizziness; nausea; and poor coordination,
so that they may immediately induce vomiting if they occur.

PSP is considered a public
health emergency and must be reported immediately to the Section
of Epidemiology by health care providers.

According to the AST''s report,
no foul play is suspected and drugs or alcohol were not a factor
in Saunders' death today . Next of kin have been notified.

Saunders' body will be transported
to the Medical Examiner in Anchorage for autopsy.

Saunders' may be the second
person to have died from paralytic shellfish poisoning. Fifty-seven-year-old
Dottie Lindkoff of Juneau died Thursday of paralytic shellfish
poisoning (PSP).

PSP is considered a public
health emergency and must be reported immediately to the Section
of Epidemiology by health care providers.